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English Battenberg Cake
Description Contributed by Catsrecipes Y-Group Ingredients * 1 cup butter * 1 cup castor sugar, extra fine white sugar, fruit sugar or take regular sugar and blend in blender until it is fine * 2 cups self rising flour * ½ teaspoon vanilla essence * 2 to 4 tablespoons milk * 2 tablespoons apricot jam Almond paste * 1 cup confectioners' (icing) sugar (4 ounces) * ½ cup castor sugar (extra fine white sugar) (4 ounces) * 1⅓ cups ground almonds (8 ounces) * 1 teaspoon lemon juice * a few drops almond essence * 1 egg, lightly beaten Directions # Heat the oven to fairly hot 375°F. # Prepare a 9 x 6-inch cake tin by cutting a piece of heavy aluminium foil the exact length of the base, but 2 inches wider than the width. # Fold a pleat in the middle so that the foil lies quite flat on the bottom of the tin and the pleat stands up, forming a wall which divides the tin into two oblongs of equal size. # With a wooden spoon, beat the butter and sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl, until the mixture is very light and creamy. # Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition, along with 1 tablespoon of flour. # Stir well to mix. # Fold in the remaining flour and the vanilla essence. # Mix in a little milk, if it is necessary, to make the batter of a consistency that will drop easily off the spoon. # Pour half the cake batter into one half of the prepared cake tin. # Mix the cocoa into the rest of the batter, add a spoonful of milk, if necessary, and pour it into the other half of the tin. # Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. # When the cake is cooked, set it aside to cool. # While the cake is baking, make the almond paste. Almond paste # Sift the icing sugar and the castor sugar together into a medium-size mixing bowl. # Mix in the ground almonds. # Add the lemon juice, almond essence and enough beaten egg to bind all the ingredients into a paste. # Sprinkle your working surface with a little icing sugar and put the paste on it. # Knead the almond paste until it is smooth. # Be careful not to over-knead as the paste will become oily. # Remove the cake from the tin. # Trim the two halves to equal size and cut each in half length ways. # Spread the side of one piece of white cake with the apricot jam and place a brown piece next to it. # Spread jam on top of the two halves. # Repeat with the other two halves of the cake, alternating the white and brown, and place on top of the jam covered layer to form a checker-board pattern. # Press gently together. # Spread the remaining jam over the top and the sides of the cake. # On a lightly sugared board roll the almond paste into an oblong large enough to encase the whole cake. # Wrap it round the cake, trimming the edges to leave the ends of the cake uncovered. # Crimp the top edges to make a border and, with a knife, score a criss-cross pattern on the top. # Keep the cake in a tin with a tight fitting lid for two days before serving. Category:Cathy's Recipes Category:English Desserts Category:Cake Recipes Category:Almond meal Recipes